One of the most well known rookies playing in the D-League after a highly visible college career at Villanova, Scottie Reynolds is having a good but not great rookie season for the Springfield Armor. While he struggled in the two games we saw live here in South Padre, Reynolds is scoring efficiently on the season despite playing on one of the worst teams in the league.

Looking at his game, Reynolds is doing a lot of his damage operating out of pick-and-rolls, something his team's offense relies heavily on. He does a good job recognizing multiple options and keeping his head up, getting most of his assists in this manner either hitting the screen man or an open shooter in the corner.

As for his own offense, Reynolds is shooting well from the perimeter when he gets open looks, being equally dangerous spotting up or pulling up, however his lack of great athletic tools certainly shows when he's trying to get the step on his man, struggling in that regard as expected. His adjustment to being his team's primary ball-handler alongside a similar type of guard in JamesOn Curry also is problematic, as the team's offense can stagnate at times.

Looking forward, Reynolds' below average athletic tools and lack of a true point guard mentality make an NBA call up questionable, though playing with a roster that's both weak overall and poorly fit to his skills certainly doesn't help matters. [Read Full Article]D-League Showcase Interviews (Part One)January 13, 2011

[Read Full Article]Situational Statistics: This Year’s Point Guard CropJune 9, 2010Although he has virtually been written off as an NBA draft prospect at this stage, Scottie Reynolds deserves a lot of credit for what he did this season as a senior. The top player in our rankings in overall PPP (1.05), Reynolds ranks above average in every situational PPP measure. He’s even one of the top six one-on-one players in the group, despite not possessing great athleticism. The third best jump shooter in this group, Reynolds’ lack of size, explosiveness, and questions about his point guard skills hurt his NBA draft stock, but his offensive resume is impressive to say the least. [Read Full Article]NCAA Weekly Performers, 2/25/10February 25, 2010Matthew Kamalsky

After declaring himself eligible for the draft following his junior season, but getting very little attention from NBA teams, Scottie Reynolds returned to Villanova looking to lead his team to a national championship and earn the first round promise he didn’t find a summer ago. While he’s shown some major improvements in his game and propelled his team into the top-10, Reynolds’ well known weaknesses remain problematic from an NBA perspective.

As we’ve documented on a number of occasions in the past, Reynolds’ draft stock will always be limited by his physical tools. His height leaves him severely undersized for a shooting guard, and his lack of ideal productivity as a passer raises concerns about his ability to play the point guard position effectively at the next level. Only compounding the concerns about his lack of size, the Virginia native lacks ideal lateral quickness and explosiveness for a NBA guard.

While Reynolds faces an uphill battle in overcoming his questionable athletic profile, he’s made some very promising strides offensively. Noted for his questionable shot selection in the past, Reynolds has substantially improved his decision-making with the ball. No longer looking as out of control as he used to, the talented shooter looks much improved from the midrange, helping him improve his 2-point percentages from a dismal 45% last year to a very impressive 55% this season.

Complementing his ability to shoot off the catch with a more consistent pull up jumper, Reynolds shows much more poise when attacking off the bounce, whether that be off the pick and roll, an isolation, or any other dribble drive. Doing a better job of playing with pace, showing a better understanding for spacing, and maintaining his balance when shooting, Reynolds has increased his jump shooting percentage off the dribble from 33% last season to 40% this season according to Synergy Sports Technology.

Reynolds has shown a comparable improvement in his spot up shooting this season. While he’s still prone to taking some difficult and well defended catch and shoot jumpers, his 6% improvement (35%-->41%) from beyond the arc has forced defenders to close him out more aggressively and allowed him to beat his man off the dribble more frequently in spot up situations.

Subsequently, he’s skyrocketed into the top-10 in our database in terms of true shooting percentage. Once in the paint, Reynolds remains very good at using his body to shield the ball and get to the line, but doesn’t showcase great playmaking ability. When the Wildcats need a basket, Reynolds has the ball in his hands to score, not to create a look for a teammate. His pedestrian assist to turnover ratio (1.2/1) and PPR (-1.82) suggest he’s far more of a combo than a real point guard. At this juncture, that won’t change, and Reynolds will need to prove himself as a floor general throughout the draft process, which won’t be easy.

Defensively, Reynolds displays the same solid fundamentals he did earlier in his career, but remains extremely limited against more athletic players –a major concern from a NBA perspective. Struggling to keep up with opponents with quick first steps and unable to recover once they change direction, Reynolds would certainly be a target in one-on-one situations on the next level regardless of what position he’s able to play offensively.

With March just around the corner, Reynolds has his team positioned for a deep tournament run and will have a tremendous opportunity to showcase his game down the stretch. After Villanova’s season is over, Reynolds seems like an ideal candidate to attend the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, even if he may feel like he has very little to prove to NBA teams at this point that he hasn’t already shown. If he can have a good showing there in a fresh setting, both as a scorer and distributor, he may be able to alter the perceptions that most teams likely already have about him. Though he’s not a lock to be drafted, Reynolds has helped his stock greatly this season, but still has a lot to prove. [Read Full Article]Top NBA Draft Prospects in the Big East (Part Three: #11-15)October 30, 2008After bursting onto the scene impressively in his freshman season, Scottie Reynolds mostly kept the status quo as a sophomore, upping his scoring production and efficiency slightly while his assist numbers slightly dropped. The 6’2 point guard didn’t regress as a sophomore, but he didn’t really expand his game much either, still being looked at as very much the same prospect a year later.

At 6’2, Reynolds has nice size for the point guard spot, however his athletic ability is underwhelming, having just a decent first step and not showing much in terms of elevation in the lane. Reynolds does do a good job of getting to the rim consistently, however, doing a lot of his damage by pushing the ball in transition, leaking out in transition, or by creating transition opportunities on the defensive end. Despite his lack of athleticism, Reynolds shows excellent creativity in the lane, moving the ball freely from hand to hand, finishing with either hand, using his body to shield the ball, showing exceptional touch, and using a lot of unorthodox finger rolls to get the job done.

The way he scores inside with his physical tools is outstanding for the college level, however it’s doubtful it will translate successfully to the next level. In the half court, despite his just decent first step, Reynolds uses high screens and hand-offs well to get a step on his man, getting into the lane frequently. He gets to the line often as well, where he shoots a solid 78%.

As a shooter, Reynolds is extremely talented, possessing an incredible feel for shooting the ball, often making very difficult attempts. He has pretty good fundamentals, with a high and quick release, and he isn’t phased when a defender has a hand in his face. According to Synergy Sports Technology, he nets 1.18 points per possession on catch-and-shoot situations when unguarded, and actually improves to 1.21 when guarded. Reynolds does run into some problems with his shooting, though, specifically when pulling up off the dribble. His PPP drops to 0.85 in these situations, and it becomes much worse when he’s moving either left or right off the dribble. He has no problems moving forward or pulling up straight from his dribble, but when going side to side, he runs into issues with his balance and accuracy. He also has a bad tendency to not always hold his follow through. In terms of mid-range game, Reynolds could definitely use some work, as he’s not able to get great separation for his shot and as aforementioned, he struggles when shooting moving side to side.

Playing in Villanova’s one-in, four-out offense, Reynolds shares the ball-handling duties with a few other guards, and rarely looks like a true point guard out there. He clearly has a shoot-first mentality, and his court vision is not something that stands out especially. He does a good job running pick-and-rolls, pushing the ball in transition, and keeping the offense flowing, however there are question marks if he could transition to the point full time in a more NBA-friendly offense.

On the defensive end, Reynolds shows decent fundamentals and focus, sticking with his man off the ball, keeping his hands up, and contesting shots, however his lateral quickness is sub-par and he’s prone to biting for moves that fake change of direction.

In terms of the NBA, Reynolds will likely either need to prove himself as a more complete point guard or a more consistent multi-dimensional shooter to have a chance at finding a permanent role in the league. He still has another two years at school, though, and his talent will definitely get him some looks whenever he decides to come out. If not the NBA, he should have a very successful career in Europe regardless. [Read Full Article]Top NBA Draft Prospects in the Big East (Part Two: #6-#10)October 22, 2007Coming off of an outstanding freshman season, Reynolds enters the seasons as arguably the top point guard that the Big East has to offer. Posting averages of 14.0 points and 4.0 assists per game, Reynolds fit perfectly into Jay Wright’s system, given the fact that he loves scoring guards running the show. The 07-08 season will only prove to be more opportune for Reynolds, given the excellent recruiting class that Villanova landed.

The biggest asset that Reynolds brings to the table is his ability to put points on the board in a variety of ways. He had 9 games in which he scored 20 or more points, an outstanding accomplishment for a freshman thrown into the fire in the Big East. He shot displayed an excellent basketball IQ, especially in terms of running the pick and roll. The Virginia native usually made the proper reads when coming off of ball screens, knowing when to deliver a pass to teammates and when to look to put points on the board for himself.

Aside from scoring off of the pick and roll, Reynolds does the majority of his scoring from beyond the three point arc or from the free throw line, where he is equally proficient. He gets his shot off from the land of three in a hurry (although with little lift) and has shown that he can shoot it all the way out to the NBA line. Shooting off of the dribble and from a spot-up position equally well, Scottie makes himself a dangerous player on the floor with his nearly 38% field goal percentage from beyond the arc. He knows this as well, evidenced by the fact that nearly half of his made field goals last season were three pointers.

Despite being limited athletically, Reynolds does an excellent job getting to the foul line. Last season, he was able to get to the line over 5 times per game, an accomplishment for a freshman point guard. Able to boost his average through free throws, he converted on 82% of his shots from the charity stripe and was often the player that Nova gave the ball to late in the game when other teams were forced to foul.

While Reynolds showed that he can put points on the board (ask Connecticut about his 40 point performance), consistency is the biggest weakness that his game has to offer. Even though he had all those 20 plus point outputs, he also had 12 games in which he failed to reach double figures in the scoring column. Not surprisingly, many of those games wound up being Wildcat losses.

In addition to his issues with consistency, Reynolds is not the most gifted player in terms of athleticism. His first step is average, he plays the game below the rim, and his lateral quickness is a bit subpar. The limited quickness effects him both on the offensive and defensive ends, where he struggles to create his own shot at times and is can be a pretty average defender at times on the other end of the floor.

With this year’s draft having the potential of being absolutely loaded in terms of point guards, Reynolds will likely have to wait until 2009 before pondering entering his name in the Draft. The graduation of Mike Nardi should allow him to see more minutes at point guard, although the Wildcats do have another stud point guard in freshman Corey Fisher. Either way, expect a big season for Scottie in terms of production, where he has the opportunity to solidify himself as the best point guard the conference has to offer. [Read Full Article]DraftExpress 2006-2007 Big East Postseason AwardsFebruary 27, 2007Freshman of the Year:Scottie Reynolds, 6-2, Freshman, Point Guard, Villanova

Reynolds started the year off slow as you might expect from a freshman forced to shoulder an extremely important role playing a legit non-conference schedule. He heated up quickly once the Big East started, though, emerging as a major reason why, barring a collapse, Villanova will likely be making the NCAA Tournament in a rebuilding year. [Read Full Article]Roundball Classic: Game RecapApril 12, 2006Scottie didn’t overly impress at the Roundball, as he displayed poor decision making skills and was forcing the issue all game long. I really question his ability to run a team at the high major division one level, but he will surely bolster any program with his excellent shooting ability. Reynolds is in a tough situation at the moment, as he signed with Oklahoma when Kelvin Sampson was still at the helm, and has made it clear that he is interested in following him to Indiana if possible. [Read Full Article]